He took the job to rescue a failing plant. He built a second life to protect his family. Only one can survive.
Thirty-year-old Steven Gentry relocates to Oklahoma to revive Texas Engineering Group's troubled North Plant, chasing the future his late father imagined for him. His internal audit exposes fraud, his reforms stick, and his reputation soars inside the company. Publicly, Steven becomes the clean reformer TEG needs.
Privately, he becomes Dallas.
Under the mentorship of Becca-pragmatic, guarded, and fluent in risk-Steven learns the brutal elegance of a cartel-adjacent pipeline that runs from Las Vegas to Houston. Burner phones. Preloaded cars. Silent motels. Five a.m. pushes across West Texas where every mirror is a confession. Each successful run buys safety for the life that matters most: his wife, Macy; their children, Peace and Tyler; and Amber, Macy's wounded sister, who's slowly choosing sobriety and a second chance. Home grows warmer, even as the air outside thins.
As the plant stabilizes and Steven's public star rises, the criminal machine accelerates. A violent initiation resets the pecking order. A rival underestimates him-once. A driver goes dark when it matters most. And Becca's final mission-meant to be a clean exit-turns into a reckoning. When a coastal blast near Galveston draws the attention of FBI Agent Trey Wagner, the neat compartments Steven relied on begin to leak.
Eighteen months. One family. Two lives refusing to stay separate.
Red Money is a character-driven crime thriller that fuses corporate intrigue with high-stakes smuggling logistics and domestic tension. It's about power, loyalty, and the price of legacy: how leadership is built, how secrets calcify, and how far a man will go to secure the people he loves-even if it means becoming the storm that could destroy them.
Grondin, Edward R.: - I was born in Rhode Island, but before I was old enough to remember much of it, my family moved to California. I grew up in sunny San Diego, where I started writing at fourteen-filling notebooks with complete worlds and characters I never planned to share. Writing was my private escape, a place where I could explore ideas too big to keep inside.Life took me on a different path for a while. I joined the U.S. Army, and after my service, I eventually settled in Houston, Texas. I'm a proud father to one daughter and two amazing stepdaughters. Alongside my creative life, I've built a 25-year career in information technology, with the last 15 years spent in senior and management roles. That career taught me discipline, strategy, and how to bring complex visions to life-skills I now pour into my writing and publishing.For decades, my stories stayed locked away. But recently, I decided to self-publish everything I've been holding onto. These worlds have lived in my head long enough-it's time to share them.
